shell

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The hard outer covering of an animal such as a snail, crab, or turtle.

   The turtle pulled its head back into its shell.

2. 2
   noun

   The hard outer covering of an egg, nut, or seed.

   She cracked the egg and threw the shell in the bin.

3. 3
   verb

   To remove something from its shell or outer covering.

   He sat on the porch shelling peas for dinner.

4. 4
   verb

   To attack a place with heavy gunfire or bombs.

   The enemy shelled the town for three days straight.

From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċiell, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cleave”). Compare West Frisian skyl (“peel, rind”), Dutch schil (“peel, skin, rink”), Low German Schell (“shell, scale”), Irish scelec (“pebble”), Old Church Slavonic сколика (skolika, “shell”). More at shale. Doublet of sheal. * (computing): From being viewed as an outer layer of interface between the user and the operating-system internals.

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